IRL in the Digital Humanities
A look into a semester's worth of work in the Digital Humanities.
At the beginning of this semester, I woke up every Tuesday and Thursday around 8:15 AM, ate breakfast, biked to campus, and walked into a classroom to go to a Digital Humanities class. For the second half of the semester, I woke up, ate breakfast, and logged onto a zoom call to go to a Digital Humanities class. Although I was well versed in the digital aspect of our class and had access to good internet, my experience of the class shifted drastically with this transition to zoom classes. Everyone's experience of school or work as shifted.
I'm sharing this anecdote because I think it illustrates one of the main lessons I learned this year through the DH projects, readings. and discussions: the digital humanities is an embodied field. I have a tendency to disconnect the physical and the digital. Sometimes digital spaces seem sterile--they seem to lack the messiness of a classroom or well-worn book. Although this is true in some ways (digital projects rarely get dirty), I think there is a lot of human-ness woven into all digital projects. There are typos, background noise, editing choices, and other aspects that make the digital humanities deeply marked by our human bodies and surroundings.
This portfolio will go through all of the projects I worked on this semester. I will reflect on what I learned and how these projects shaped my thinking about Digital Humanities. The projects ranged from podcasts to reports. Each medium taught me different technical skills, however, for this reflection, I will focus on how these project shaped my thinking around three themes:
Creativity
Structure/Constraints
Embodiment
Collaboration
I want to share how my creativity was stretched, how the structure of the assignments challenged me, and how, throughout this experience, I found embodiment to be an integral part of creating DH projects. This idea of embodiment also reflects on how being in the physical classroom, engaging with my peers impacted my work.
DH Report
Collective Mapping, Social Movements, and DH
Getting Started...
For this assignment, we were tasked with writing a report about a digital humanities project. The exact instructions were to...
"Compose a print-based report on a digital humanities project. There are two components to the task: 1) conducting research to gather background information relevant to the project under study and 2) providing descriptive text that captures key aspects of the project. There is also a twist: you should compose your report using a storytelling mode."
Given this structure, I began exploring different DH projects. At first, I was interested in Digital Poetics. I couldn't get a strong grasp on a project that really drew me in. I began moving towards a different aspect of DH that interested me: mapping and public humanities.
I had a hard time figuring out what qualified as a DH project. I found a few lists of DH projects, but a lot of projects that I thought were DH didn't describe themselves this way. I knew that I wanted to work on mapping, so I started broad and decided to write my report on GIS hoping to find a more specific focus as we moved forward. In our group sprint, I shared my enthusiasm for the subject, but we all agreed I needed to narrow it down more. The screenshot of our sprint notes shows the wide range of thoughts I was having related to the subject and the lack of specificity.
While discussing the challenge of narrowing my project with a fellow Geography student in the Campus Y, he mentioned that I should look at the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP). It was an odd run-in with an old friend, but the AEMP ended becoming the focus of my DH Report. The constraints initially overwhelmed me, but the random, IRL experience of discussing the project with my peers helped me focus in and get to work. This interaction illustrates a tiny moment of collaboration that influenced the entirety of my project. I was open to collaborating because I was frustrated and knew my own limitations in terms of thinking outside of the box.
In the first draft of my report, I struggled to clearly articulate the AEMP using a storytelling voice like the assignment challenged us to. I felt like being creative and exploring storytelling would detract from the seriousness of the project that I was reporting on. I created a dichotomy in my head: academic writing is accurate and respectful and creative writing is misleading and inaccurate. I do not think that this dichotomy is inherently true, but I can see how I've been trained extensively in academic writing and not in creative writing.
DH Implications...
The report reflected some of the tensions that are often present in DH conversations: the tension between formal writing and informal communication, the tension between reporting and storytelling, the tension between technology and description. In my reading response to Joanna Drucker's article, I wrote:
"I think that in the realm of cartography, Drucker made broad statements that are not necessarily true for a lot of cartographers/geographers. In her example about the cuneiform map, she argues that any spatial visualization of the early sites of cuneiform tablets would fail to accurately display the reality of how time and space operated during that specific historical and cultural moment. I agree that no map can encompass an entire reality, but neither can writing or any other method. What a map can do, especially a digital map is describe and display information in a way that you can't do with writing."
In my reading response, I was talking about maps vs. writing, but I think this same logic can be used to talk about academic writing vs. storytelling. Digital Humanities challenges accepted mediums and ask people to think about different and better ways to communicate their ideas. Recognizing the limitations and potential for different mediums seems like a huge part of being an engaged Digital Humanist.
Revision and Moving To the Next Project...
When I read some of my peers' work for the peer review, I realized that a storytelling method can be successful and serious. I wrote in my peer comments for Sabrina: "I think if you included some more informal/conversational anecdotes it could bring up more of these complexities." I realized in reviewing her work that less formal and anecdotal writing could actually aid the work. The people who reviewed my draft also noted that they wanted to know why I chose the project and what my personal relationship to it was. By collaborating with my peers, I was able to see more generative ways forward in future projects. Because the constraints of so many DH projects are not as rigid as other disciplines, collaboration helped me explore the possibilities that weren't initially apparent to me.
For the revision of the report, I decided to stay committed to the original form and tone but decided to be more flexible and open to informality in the video.
DH Video Report
From formality to new video enthusiasm...
I was disappointed by the formality and rigidity of my DH report. For the video, I wanted to let the constraints inspire me, not get me down. I also wanted to include my personal investment and role in the research and video. The first stage of making our DH video was to create a storyboard. Using the template provided, I began brainstorming footage that I wanted to use and what I wanted to say. If you take a look at the storyboard, you’ll see that it devolves towards the end. You might also notice that it doesn’t align with the final video product. Although the storyboard method surely works for some brains, it did not work for mine, especially as I was trying to be less formal and let the materials guide me.
The most productive sessions for me in developing my DH Video were long periods of time where I would film, splice things together, record short snippets, and repeat. I was most productive and creative when I could see the videos and immediately record the audio. Although I would type out what I was going to say beforehand, I did not have an entire script before I sat down at the computer. The process was very iterative and non-linear, but I finally felt like I was able to engage with the video medium and disengage from a super formal academic tone. By letting the features of Adobe Rush guide me, I felt creative and motivated to complete this project.
As someone who hasn't done much video editing, I was excited to explore the features of Adobe Rush and incorporate a diversity of technical components into my project. The following list highlights some of the technical choices I made in this video.
Technical Aspects of This Project That Surprised Me...
1. Hand-drawn map
The hand-drawn map at the beginning of the video required me to tape my phone to a stool and then stand that stool on the table. I really wanted to include footage of my hands and my drawing so that viewers knew there was a human body woven into the video.
2. Screen recording on my phone
I included a screen recording of the same area as a hand-drawn map but in Google Maps. I had no idea that you could screen record on your phone, but when I was exploring Google Maps on my computer I realized that people more often engage with the mobile interface when they are navigating.
3. Footage of bicycling
Throughout the video, there are snippets of footage that I took of campus while riding my bike. I wanted viewers to get a sense of the reality of space as they were thinking about the maps in the video. I was worried that viewers would forget that the maps represent physical spaces.
You can see all of these features in the following video...
This project was less collaborative than other assignments from the semester; however, the peer feedback from my report was the main inspiration for me to make the video more personal and to worry less about being completely accurate and thorough. After completing the video, I transcribed the script. Almost none of the text from the report made it into the transcript. The video relied on the visuals to communicate the details of the AEMP, while the report relied on a detailed description of the maps. Interestingly, I think the least creative part of the video is towards the end when I try to quote from an academic paper. I wanted to include visuals, but not just text on the screen. I ended up using screen recordings of the PDF and a smaller text box with notes/keywords from the quotation. Although I think this method was effective, it might have been more dynamic to paraphrase the quotations and include more exciting visuals from the website.
DH Implications and Moving To the Next Project...
One of the major themes in both the report and the video was insularity. Is DH an insular field that only exists within academic spaces? Is DH accessible to people outside of Universities? For my work on the AEMP, I found that DH did exist in both academic and non-academic spaces. Some of the people that work on the project were activists who entered academic careers to support the project; other people were activists and DHers without being affiliated with a university. As we began brainstorming podcast ideas as a class, I knew I wanted to get further into this topic. I also knew that I wanted to hear other people's perspectives... I wanted to collaborate. I was going around and around in my head about DH and the academy.
Podcast: Insularity Insights
Getting Started Together...
Carly, Natalie, Jane, and I began discussing insularity in DH during our first podcast group sprint. We all came from different backgrounds and had different specific interests within the concept of insularity and DH. At first, our conversation seemed so vague that we had trouble narrowing it down. We would get carried away on tangents and then have to come back to insularity. The most exciting part about our collaboration is that it led us to a place that I don't think we would have anticipated. We were able to use the practice recording from the library to lay out an outline and then we each took on doing more in-depth research into that segment of the podcast.
Group Podcast Live Recording...
During the live recording, we all used a printed version of the following notes to guide our conversation. This outline illustrates the way that our podcast was structured but also was not limited by the structure.
The group podcast was deeply collaborative and embodied. Creating the digital podcast required us to spend a lot of time together in the classroom and in the library. We developed a rapoire with each other. During the recording, we used body language and visual cues to indicate who was going to talk next. In this case, the constraints of podcasting and of insularity (as a theme), were navigated collectively.
Re-working the group podcast into an individual podcast...
The podcast was my favorite assignment this semester. It brought together all of the lessons that I had learned so far and I was proud of the final product. As I've noted earlier in this portfolio, I struggled to balance constraints/structure with creativity and exploration. For the podcast, I decided to give myself permission to experiment and be creative and not worry too much about the final result.
I am pretty familiar with podcasts, especially storytelling podcasts like This American Life or Radiolab. I know that podcasts require a lot of production to keep the audience engaged and to clearly articulate ideas without any visuals and in a completely linear fashion. You can rewind a podcast, but the point is that you don't have to. I thought it would be interesting to try and rework some of the live audio from our group podcast into the style of a storytelling podcast. In order to do this, I listened to one of my favorite podcasts and wrote down what the producers did. I noted that they included ambient noise in the beginning. Sometimes they start a clip and then interrupt it to introduce and contextualize the voice. The host is very conversational and self-referential. As I continued to take notes, I started to include ideas for how my podcast could take form. These notes echoed the storyboard for my DH video in the sense that they didn't necessarily operate linearly.
Collaboration and embodiment...
As you can tell from the notes and the podcast, personal anecdotes and relationships are at the center of the podcast. I begin the podcast with a narrative about my friend Michael and throughout reference to the conversation I had with Natalie, Carly, and Jane. By grounding the ideas in these personal narratives, I was able to give life to the ideas and help listeners get invested in the content. Podcasting also felt like an interesting way to create an atmosphere. I used ambient noise from a library and the sound of a phone chiming to create the feeling of being in that space and receiving a text, which was part of the narrative. Using ambient noise is a parallel technique to using footage on my bicycle in the DH Video Report. Both techniques bring the author's body and environment to the forefront of the listening or viewing experience.
Revising the podcast...
This revision of the podcast focuses on technical problems from the first draft. I worked on the ambient noise in some of the raw clips from the group podcast, adjusted the sound of the type writer, and changed the volume on other clips.
For this revision, I used the "Noise Reduction" and "Amplify" tools to make the vocals more clear and the background noise less distracting. The most difficult clip to adjust was the "in the field" recording that Carly did with a friend of hers. The background noise was loud and the vocals come in and out. I had to do multiple adjustments to find a balance between over-reducing the vocals and making sure that the background noise wasn't too loud.
Pinterest Video: Title of my Pinterest Video
I was apprehensive to move back into video after falling in love with podcasting. I was concerned that I would lose the freedom I felt in the audio world when I had to incorporate visuals as well. For some reason combining the two forms (audio and visual) makes it twice as hard for me to be creative. In the DH Report, I had a sense that all of the visuals had to line up with the audio. Going into the Pinterest video, I decided to abandon this notion. Instead, I focused on the sound and what I was going to say and then brought the visuals in as support.
How I made the video...
Keeping in mind the focus on audio, I wrote out a thorough script before even thinking about visuals. I broke the script into 1-minute chunks and estimated that I would speak about 250 words per minute. This structure allowed me to conceptualize the amount of work I had to do without feeling overwhelmed. Following the podcast, I decided to start with a personal anecdote about my history with Pinterest. About 750 words came easily before I decided to move into Adobe Rush and start incorporating some visuals. I knew that the visuals might inspire me to change the script so I didn't want to finalize it. I did find some techniques in Adobe Rush that surprised me and shifted the narrative of my video.
Technical Aspects of This Project That Surprised Me...
1. Opaque video of me working on the project
At different points in the video I superimposed footage of me sitting at my computer scrolling through Pinterest or actually working on my Pinterest video. Some of the shots look like my face reflected in the screen and others are profiles of me at the computer. The goal of these shots was so show that the narrator is a real person, in a body, sitting at a computer, using Pinterest. Since the whole project was about identity, I wanted to make sure that my embodied identity was part of the video.
2. Using photoshop to create visuals
When I first thought about how to incorporate the quotations into the video, I assumed I would use Snagit in the same way that I had for the DH Report Video. I wasn't excited about this technique because I remembered how it was kind of boring in the DH video. I had originally been against using stills in the video because I thought it would seem too much like a PowerPoint; however, the vertical format reminded me of Instagram stories of still images. As long as the image doesn't linger on the screen too long and there are fun graphics, it can be a very effective way of sharing information.
3. Archival footage
Towards the end of the video I was wary of including anymore 'scrolling in Pinterest' footage, but I also couldn't think of anything else to include. As I brainstormed the themes of gender and identity, I thought it could be interesting to include footage of women doing 'stereotypically female' things. I was pleased with the result. I was particularly excited to have a visual that I didn't contextualize at all but still thematically fit with the overall video.
DH Implications...
The technical aspects of the Pinterest video highlight what I've learned over the course of the semester with regards to producing and sharing information through a DH lens. The content of the project also highlights the central themes of the class, specifically data and digital identity formation. As I noted in the Pinterest Survey, I'm interested in learning more about the behind the scenes of the data scraping. I think improving my data literacy and engaging more deeply with the data could have helped me develop a more detailed analysis and more concrete findings. Additionally, due to the nature of the second semester, I feel like I wasn't able to collaborate as much with my peers for this project. I would have been curious to see how our conversations would have gone in the classroom and how my perspectives on Pinterest would have changed through other people's contributions.
Coming into this semester I did not consider social media to be an important aspect of DH. This project definitely changed my thinking. As we move forward, I think social media will become more and more a part of humanities and DH specifically. How do our digital identities impact our professional work? How can scholars use social media to inform and produce academic work? Could you write a "paper" in Pinterest?
Time in Class
The following links refer to reading responses and comments I made throughout the semester. This content illustrates some of the most collaborative work I did this semester. Before coming to class, I often got the chance to read my classmates' responses and prepare for the conversation. I often found myself surprised by how different everyone's responses were and how diverse our class was: there were STEM majors, graduate students, and English majors.
Reading Responses:
Comments for Peers:
Additional Classwork:
A lot of the digital engagement that I did for this class does not have a link. For many of the assignments, I used my peers' work to gain inspiration and understand different ways of interpreting the assignments. I specifically remember taking notes during the "tinfoil hat" podcast, Carly's DH Report Video, and Shawna's portfolio. It is one of the first classes where I felt that we weren't competing with each other but actually collaborating and openly sharing. My creativity was heightened by access to other examples. Additionally, the personal relationships we formed in class allowed me to understand who the voice was in the video and perhaps why they made some of the decisions they did.
Portfolio Video
The portfolio video was challenging because it really required me to narrow in and focus on one part of the entire class. I decided to focus on the Pinterest video because it reflects a lot of what I learned throughout the course. In the video, I use Creativity and Collaboration as the guiding themes for the video. I hope the video helps orient readers to the rest of the portfolio.
Conclusion
Although this class is over and college as well, I can genuinely say that I will bring the skills and ideas I learned in this class forward. I am excited to make vertical format videos in Adobe Rush and use HTML to create more interesting blog posts and websites. I may even try my hand at a personal podcast...
On the first day of class, Dr. Anderson asked us what we were worried about for the class. I remember sheepishly sharing that I was nervous about losing motivation. I knew it was my senior year, the class didn't matter for my major, and I was planning on spending a lot of time out on the quad with my friends. Although there were a few late nights and close deadlines, the nature of these DH projects meant that once I sat down to work on them, I felt motivated and inspired to complete them. The satisfaction of creating an accessible, interesting video or podcast far surpasses that of a paper. The unfamiliar constraints of Digital Humanities ultimately motivated me to be creative and persevere, despite feeling lost or uncomfortable at times. I look forward to opening myself up to new mediums and being surprised by digital techniques!